


Day One Hundred Eighty-Two || A Flaw

by 365daysofsasuhina



Series: 365 Days of SasuHina 2019 [182]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-02
Updated: 2019-07-02
Packaged: 2020-06-02 17:11:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,258
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19445926
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/365daysofsasuhina/pseuds/365daysofsasuhina
Summary: What her father once called her fatal flaw, Hinata would grow to prove her greatest asset.





	Day One Hundred Eighty-Two || A Flaw

Since the beginning, her father called it a flaw.

Hinata was timid. Weak. Recoiled from fights rather than use her full power and potential. Potential Hiashi thought wasted alongside his own time and effort, attempting to mold his daughter into a fitting successor and future clan head. So long as she held back, until she learned to give her all against an opponent...he found no use in continuing her Hyūga clan training.

When she lost the decisive sparring match against her younger sister Hanabi, Hiashi declared her title as heiress forfeit. From that day forward, no matter the age difference of the sisters, it was Hanabi who would - when the time came - lead the Hyūga.

And that wasn’t all that changed.

The adoring little sister, realizing the weight of her duties, felt almost betrayed by her elder. While Hanabi welcomed the title and its responsibilities, her admiration now felt misplaced...and she instead put her efforts into her training rather than into her sister and their bond.

With Hanabi taken by Hiashi and Neji lost to his hatred of the main family...Hinata had no one left to vouch for her within her clan. Left feeling as an outsider, she instead turned to those beyond her blood. At first, she found inspiration in one Uzumaki Naruto. His bright energy, refusal to give up, and drive to be recognized reverberated with her. She wanted to feel like that...she wanted to  _ be _ like that! To no longer fear what others thought of her, and continue striding forward, even when the world turned its back on her. Naruto’s confidence - even if it was mostly bravado - sparked in Hinata a drive to improve. Not for her sister, her father, her clan...but for herself. 

The title of heiress didn’t matter to her...not anymore. If she was unfit, then so be it. But that wasn’t going to stop her from becoming the best Hyūga Hinata she could be. One day...maybe she could stand beside someone like Naruto, and truly be his equal.

Her genin team wasn’t...what she expected. An Inuzuka, loud, boisterous, and cocky. And an Aburame, quiet, introspective, and thoughtful. While Hinata had never been looked down upon by anyone in her class, her wallflower nature meant not knowing many of them well. But Iruka and the other Academy faculty knew what they were doing when they formed Team Eight. Three sensory-based shinobi that would make for one of the best tracking teams Konoha had seen in quite some time. 

But of course, no team starts off great. Kiba’s stubbornness, Shino’s reclusiveness, and Hinata’s lack of confidence made finding their stride... _ difficult _ at first.

After a rough few first weeks, however...something started to change. Hinata and Kiba did their best to pull Shino up with them. He and Hinata worked to guide Kiba’s ambition toward a common goal. And he and Shino offered genuine praise to Hinata for her hard work.

That...hadn’t happened in so long. In all honesty, it took her aback, freezing the first time it happened...much to the boys’ confusion.

But Kurenai understood.

While they each had their flaws...so too did they have strengths to help overcome them. And for the first time, Hinata’s greatest flaw was recognized as a strength.

“Your kindness is the glue that holds this team together,” Kurenai told her one afternoon, the squad breaking up after training for the day. 

“My...my kindness…?”

“In a world like ours, many mistake that for a weakness...empathy, kindness, charity. But in truth, those are things that help us understand one another, and let positive things grow. You three help bring each other up, rather than tear one another down. And that’s important!” Ruddy eyes glanced over, giving her a smile. “...the boys appreciate your attention and help. You’ve come a long way learning your poultices, and helping to make sure they have what they need to be at full strength. We all do our best when we care for each other. And caring for each other - wanting to protect those who are important to us - helps us fight when we must. I know harming others isn’t always easy...but keeping your friends and teammates safe? Surely that will help you overcome your hesitation, Hinata.”

She felt...enlightened after that conversation. Her kindness...was a good thing? It helped her team? True, she wanted to grow, and help support her teammates...and Hinata knew that would mean doing what she must against any foes they may encounter.

But...she’d promised herself she would get stronger. First to stand by Naruto, then to protect her team.

And then...came another reason.

With her proximity to Itachi’s beloved, Hinata was entrusted with pieces of the truth he’d told her. With them, Hinata was granted a unique perspective into not only the atrocities committed against the Uchiha...but the reasoning behind Sasuke’s actions. Their parallels - which had escaped her before, what with their diverging goals - suddenly made so much more sense...and gave her a better understanding.

More than almost anyone...she could sympathize with him. She too was the neglected child of the clan head...with a brother figure that seemingly hated her. She got him back...only to lose him. If it had been the Hyūga to face annihilation at the village’s behest...if she had been the one in Sasuke’s shoes...could she have done all he’d done? Striven for justice despite the sacrifices? 

She couldn’t answer that question.

So, when Sasuke returned, and everyone else treated him like an explosive tag one spark from going off...she instead did what her teacher and her teammates had taught her:

She was kind.

It was Hinata who ensured he was invited to any gathering of their classmates. It was her who engaged him in conversation whenever they passed. It was she who - when the rest of Team Seven oddly danced around their teammate and each other - simply treated him like a human being.

Was it any wonder, then, that it was her - and her kindness - that he ended up falling in love with?

Her empathy had not been the death of her, nor her career. She strove to get stronger: to protect her important people, her village, herself. Her will to fight was born out of love of many forms. A childish crush, a platonic team, a motherly teacher, a doting friend...and a man who had had the entire world against him. A man she offered a welcoming hand.

Whereas everyone else sought to own him in some way or another - his teammates, his village council, his allies in Akatsuki - she just wanted to help him feel at home in the place that housed his clan...and their aggressors. Konoha, she knew, had its flaws...but so too did it have potential to be great. 

So, when he approached her about revitalizing the police force with the Hyūga clan’s help...she was the first to support him, and the first to volunteer. She’d began to feel purposeless after the war. With no desire to lead her clan as Hanabi proved a grand future leader, and the role of shinobi beginning to change, she instead took her will to protect and used it within their village. To, like Sasuke, help guide and better it from the inside.

What had started as a supposed flaw became Hinata’s greatest asset. It gained her strength, respect...and a love she never expected to find. Never would she call it a weakness again.

**Author's Note:**

> Not gonna lie, this prompt gave me a little trouble! Add in a long day with a headache and heat fatigue, and I was NOT ready for this, lol - but! Got it done.
> 
> More of a narrative piece, but I think it suits the overall theme. Hinata's kindness is vastly underrated, both in canon, and by her critics. But we love and appreciate it here!
> 
> Anyway, I'm...very tired, so best to call it there, lol - thanks for reading!


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